Trick or Treat?

I am sure most of my Northeast friends know this already, but we had snow this weekend here in Crazyville. Not as much as they had originally called for, but enough to mess up plans and keep me inside. It was snowing when I got up on Saturday morning, and probably snowed til 8 that night. My mom, down-county, got nothing. Zippy. It just rained.

But I'm not going to complain. It was nice to spend the day, going through my sewing room, putting things away. I organized the huge stack of books in the corner, which fell over the day we left for vacation and that I just couldn't deal with restacking. I started going through my WIPs so I can participate in WIPocalaypse. I think I found about 6 I really want to work on, at least on the initial pass through.

I also took a good long look at my stash and thought again to myself that it really is a distinct shame that I continue to acquire stuff and do not take the time to work on things I already have. I mean, I love it all, or I wouldn't have bought it. But is owning it REALLY appreciating it and being a good steward of it? Particularly when I have a lot of money tied up in it and there are people who go to bed hungry for lack of money? I fight this battle in my head a lot of times, now more than ever. And, even take the greater socialism out of the equation, what are the opportunity costs to myself of acquiring and never actually completing? I tend not to think too hard on that one--it would probably only upset me.

So . . . I've decided that, for 2012, other than my WIP charts, and another project, I'm stitching from stash. And kitting from stash as much as possible. And by "other than", I mean I'm only going to buy specialty items when ABSOLUTELY necessary. The point is to stay out of the stores and use what I have.I've been thinking about it for a while, but this weekend put the exclamation point on the need to do it. I think, when I'm not having a small panic attack about it, that it will be a good exercise for me, in creativity as well as being a bit more appreciative of the blessings I have been given.

Now I'm not stupid enough to believe I'll make a huge dent in my stash by doing this. That isn't really the intention. But I think that it will help me in refocusing and highlighting what purchases are REALLY important to me, versus which just make me feel good.

So, bear with me. I might be a bit neurotic for the next few months. But I'm hoping to be a better person on the other side of it.

Interesting site!

I was given this link to some very high end cross stitch art.

http://www.dontpaniconline.com/magazine/arts/sevrija-incirauskaite-kriauneviciene

I figured someone here might enjoy it. Can you imagine all the effort it would take to make the "fabric?"

A Halloween freebie

I hadn't seen this mentioned in many places. I think this freebie is darling and thought you might like it too:

http://silvercutedwarf.blogspot.com/2011/10/halloween-is-coming.html

Working for the weekend

If I ever needed a nice quiet weekend, or a fun weekend, it's this weekend. I thought I would get home at a normal hour last night and enjoy my leftovers from Date Night with Left-brain on Tuesday (quite the surprise and I rubbed his back to show my appreciation), but, due to some issues with one of the family dogs (not the twins, not Beazer), I didn't get home til 10 last night, having spent the greater part of the evening at the vet's, only to find out said dog is just older, and has arthritis and might be depressed. And that the only thing she dreads worse than the vet is having to be muzzled. She did provide a bit of comic relief at the expense of the receptionist when she started growling at me. Nikki is a bit of an . . . intense . . . dog and she doesn't really like me, which I accept, so she growls quite frequently. And snarls. At us, at her sister, the JRT mix (who doesn't seem to care, and, besides, moves fast, so as to be out of the way of errant teeth, and just loves her.) My rule of thumb is, we're fine if she just snarls, getting annoyed if she starts sneezing, and stop immediately if she's drooling; I think it's a perfect system, so simple to understand, so reliable. We should all come with it, it would make life more simpler. The receptionist saw her snarling, said, "Oh, look, she's smiling." I had to explain, she wasn't smiling, but that it was OK. I'm used to it. The receptionist said, "Oh, yeah, I do have to get the muzzle for her, don't I?"

Yeah.

I am sure it sounds wierd to be so non-chalant about her, but she is what she is.

Cranky. She's at least found people who understand her.

Long story short, she went home with glucosamine tablets to see if they help her. I went home exhausted.

I'm going to go home tonight and stitch. I'm not folding laundry, running errands, NOTHING. I may eat ice cream. I already had a Choco Taco this morning. It was a Choco Taco kind of morning. But I need to make inroads on my LHN Ornaments. I have decided I am not re-upping for that next year, but want to get some of the ones I have kitted up stitched before it gets too overwhelming. I'm hopeful to make good progress on my current one, "Bringing Home the Tree," and will post a picture.

Til then, may your day be drool-free, tension-free, and may we all have the energy and joy of a Jack Russell.

Here, but I'm grumpy

Was it only last week I was on vacation?

Ever since I've been back, I've been running like mad. Our play closed at the theatre on Sunday, but the people were acting like . . . I don't know what. Crazy people. I kept saying, "And they bite," which was something my littlest nephew claimed Beazer did one time. I laughed then, thinking of my goofy old dog, who adores these children, biting him, but it seemed like such an appropriate way to view people who look so friendly and then chew us out over nothing.

That was Saturday.

Sunday, I went to Mom's and helped her clear out her flowerbed. She had an infestation of porcelain berry vine, which is really pretty, with purple, blue and aqua berries, but is an invasive species and wreaked havoc on her beds. We got that cut down and away--and of course I managed to whack myself in the face with a rosebush we were trying to untangle. OWWWW. I woke up yesterday in pain from all the bending over, but managed to get through the day.

I guess I'm just tired that I'm not getting home at a decent hour. When I leave the house before dawn and get home after dusk, it's getting to be a little much. Tonight, I have a meeting at my part time job, and, yes, I'm grumpy about that. Apparently, it's to introduce ourselves to new staff. Well . . . I don't wanna introduce myself to the new staff. I've been there for 4 years, people who need to know me, know me. And it's taking me away from the house, and I'm so tired. And . . . I don't wanna.

But of course I'm going. And I'll shut up because I have two jobs and some people have none.

But I'm grumpy. Tired and grumpy

It seemed like a good idea at the time

I have a dangerous pair of scissors. Now I know that all scissors can be dangerous. But I don't seem to have a lot of those scissors. My Dovos need to be sharpened. They don't even cut thread too well anymore. But these cheapy Craftsmart scissors have to throw their weight around.

They are the ones I cut Betsy with. And Icy Dragon. And my sheets (on accident). And my finger. I've dropped them on my toe as well. That hurt. They've also stabbed a hole in my purse. I probably am not really capable of handling them.

So last night, I decided not to put them in the bag with my stitching, since I am tired of repairing holes in WIPs. Instead I stuck them in my hoodie pocket and sauntered off to my part-time job.

You see where this is going, right?

I got to work, went to sit down in my stool, and stabbed myself, through the hoodie, through my pants, into my hip. Deeply. I screamed. I tugged them out, hoping it was nothing.

I began bleeding profusely. My boss handed me the surprisingly well-stocked first aid kit (I am always pleased to work for a company with a good first aid kit, since my first job's kit contained, and I am not kidding you, salt and a plastic knife. When we had a medical incident, I had to donate from my car's first aid kit), and I stupidly thought I could fix it with one band-aid. A few minutes later, put my hand down there and it was bloody.

I bled through my pants. Thank God they were black or I'd need new pants.

So I had to go patch myself up.

I thought momentarily about going to the ER, since it was a puncture wound, but I have a high deductible and didn't want to explain to Left-brain why we'd be eating beans for months to pay for it, so put on a bigger Band-aid. And thought about that Stephen King short story, "The Mangler," where the pressing machine got possessed and started killing people (it's a good one, Stephen King writes exceptional short stories, better than his novels), and briefly wondered if I own demonic scissors. And then realized how stupid THAT idea was . . .

It was sore as all get out for the rest of the evening. I got home and soaked it and then put Neosporin on. I'm going to watch it; if it gets bad, I'll get it looked at.

And I won't carry scissors in my pocket again.

Picture heavy post

And a rambling one, too.

Riona had asked about the story of my ugly wedding cake.

When we went to get the cake, I went to the local bakery. Their cakes were always so pretty. I ordered a simple cake with 4 tiers, using icing on two layers from one cake, which was round, and then icing from another cake, which was square. Buttercream frosting, nothing fancy. I didn't like the cake toppers they had, so bought one. I also requested calla lilies to match my bouquet.

This is what I got. Look closely at its majesty. You're gonna want to click on this!




Now, in truth, perhaps I was not quite clear enough, although I'm not sure how much clearer I could have been. There might be callas that look like pom-poms. Or squiggles. And perhaps it might be chic to drop a square on top of a circle. I'm sure one circle in an otherwise square cake might mean something posh . . . somewhere. And put pearls on the cake. I told Left-brain that is NOT the cake I ordered. I'm delightfully tacky, not straight-up . . . ugh . . . Had I know this, I would have gone with a white cake with coconut on top. Mom asked me if I wanted her to go talk to the bakery, she was mortified too, and I just said to let it go. Anyway, I ended up with Smith Island cake, so it all worked out in the end.

I'm in the newest issue of WOXS. The article is about Christmas decorations. Left-brain thought it was pretty cool.

I appreciate that they didn't hyphenate my name. It can be confusing, but I'm artsy like that.


I did bring stitching along this weekend. I wanted to work on some ornaments.

This is the Carousel chart from the November 2007 issue of Gift of Stitching. I love it!


This is from, I think, the 2009 November issue of TGOS. It's a pretty simple ornament, but pretty appropriate for anniversary stitching.


I really love the ornaments from TGOS. They are becoming something I look forward to as much as the JCS ornie issues.

I also got my very cute ornament from Martha. She sent me the witch hat ornament and the one with the shoes. I put them right on the tree!

And do you believe all I had to do to get that beauty was stitch this little guy?

He was not an easy stitch, but I am glad I got the chance to make him.

My dear friend Kathy made me this beautiful ornament and sent it to me. I am so lucky; the package had torn open, but it was there for me.


Isn't it pretty?

That's all for today. My camera got a workout!